Nightmares
by DragonflyxParodies
Summary: "I am Nightmare. You are in my Realm." This couldn't be happening!


They'd begun getting worse, and there was nothing he could do to stop them. He would wake screaming each time he lay his head down-or worse, not wake at all. He was already so exhausted that when he had tried to stay up one night, his terror of closing his eyes too much, he'd only succeeded in passing out.

He no longer spoke to anyone-even Reginald received nothing more than a curt nod on the rare occasion he left his room.

But now, they'd begun taking over his waking moments.

He'd hallucinated because of them before, but never to this extent. Never so badly his dreams had become reality.

He had nearly killed someone. He'd dreamed he was fighting the Doppelganger-he'd been fighting for his life. The next thing he'd known, he was awake and there was a broken, bleeding body in front of him. He hadn't waited to see who it was-he'd fled.

This was his last-ditch effort to stop the nightmares. If it failed…he wasn't going to hurt anyone anymore.

Malia frowned at him when he entered the Emporium, obviously concerned. He knew he looked horrible. He'd lost a lot of weight, and he was nothing but skin and bones anymore. His eyes were sunken, dark with fatigue and exhaustion. He had made an effort, at least, to dress in baggy clothes to hide how severely he'd changed, but he could see in her eyes that it hadn't worked.

"Matt-are you alright?" She asked, grandmotherly as always. He didn't have the energy to do anything but nod as he stopped at the counter.

"I…I need a charm. Something to ward off bad dreams." He said quickly, voice barely audible. Her frown deepened, and he glued his eyes to the counter. It hurt too much to see the concern in her eyes. She was the grandmother he'd never had, and he loved her for that-but he refused to tell her what was going on.

"Nightmares? There's a few minor spells-"

"I've tried everything. Dreamcatchers, potions, spells, _everything_. Please, Malia-" He cut himself off, biting through his tongue as he stiffened beneath her searching gaze.

"There…There's something…Hold on." She vanished around the massive cauldron she always had cooking some sort of potion, and he could hear her moving various objects. He didn't look up from the counter, and jumped when she placed a scarlet object there. It was a ruby, the largest he had ever seen. It was easily the size of his fist-something he could never in a million years afford.

"I heard an old myth once, said if you went to sleep holding a ruby, you'd be able to fight off nightmares."

"I don't have enough-"

"It's on the house, Matt. Is…Is something wrong?" She asked hesitantly, a wrinkled hand resting on his. He jerked away, muttered a goodbye, and fled with the gem.

By the time he made it back to his dorm, night had fallen. He dropped his jacket to the ground and cradled the ruby to his chest as he collapsed onto his bed, knuckles white around the object.

He took the time to pray that it would work, before closing his eyes.

Immediately he was in a different place than his room. He sat in the center of a room with crimson walls and a matching floor, pulsating veins of ebon twining around the scarlet surface. He was alone, and he glanced down at the ruby in his hands, freezing when he saw it was gone. Instead, he held a _heart_.

It was covered in blood, the liquid staining his jeans and his hands. It beat steadily and slowly in his grasp.

"About time, hmm?" His head jerked up and he fell back at the intrusive voice.

He went absolutely still when he saw the creature that floated in front of him.

It was just as black as the tendrils on the walls, white eyes filled with malice studying him. Long, clawed fingers rested at the creature's sides, and from waist down it dissolved into a faint trail of black smoke. Its head tapered off to a narrow point, which was split into a wicked grin. Sharp, jagged teeth glistened at him, revealing a dark pit in the creature's mouth.

"W-what are you?" He asked, pushing himself to his feet. The creature's smile widened.

"I am Nightmare. You are in my Realm."

His blood ran cold at the creature's response.

"Why am I here?" His voice was very hoarse.

"I find it very…irritating, when people tire of my games yet do not know what it is they seek." The creature said softly in response, eyes narrowing.

"What are you talking about?" He demanded, fingers tightening around the object in his grip. A barb of pain hooked in his chest and he reflexively threw the beating heart as far away from him as he could. It plopped onto the floor, and a sudden agony tore through him.

He screamed, blood wetting his lips and coating his tongue as he did so.

_This couldn't be happening!_

He felt talons rest on his back, pricking through his shirt and drawing blood as the creature-Nightmare-laughed.

"You challenge me to a fight, yet spell your own demise? How…interesting." As the being spoke, he felt its talons suddenly sink into him, and he screamed again, back arcing in agony. Heedless of the flesh in its way, Nightmare wrapped its hand around bone, reducing him to something composed entirely of pain.

"I think…that I won't kill you. I'd like to play a little longer, magician." He heard Nightmare speaking, as the creature jerked back. His vision dimmed, and a guttural groan escaped rather than a scream this time.

He felt his spine being torn out of his body, and then nothing.

His eyes snapped open, and he scrambled out of his bed, unable to keep himself from trembling. He looked for the ruby, but couldn't see it.

_It had all been a dream_.

A slow breath of relief escaped him, and he tried to calm his frantic pulse.

"Now, now…I told you I wasn't done playing yet." Someone chided. His head snapped up, and Nightmare smiled lazily from its perch on his dresser.

The ruby rested on Nightmare's lap.


End file.
